Ex-Bell officials take stand at corruption trial

LOS ANGELES 
Two former Bell City Council members charged with corruption are defending their $100,000-a-year salaries.

The Los Angeles Times (
http://lat.ms/VcX1Tk
) says Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal testified Monday that they earned their pay by working long hours on behalf of citizens in the Los Angeles suburb.

Jacobo says she answered calls at all hours, worked at the city food bank and sometimes paid for hotel rooms for the homeless.

Both also said they believed their salaries were legal.

Jacobo and Mirabal are among six former officials charged with misappropriating public funds. Prosecutors claim they inflated their salaries by serving on city agencies that rarely met and nearly bankrupted the city.